My reading in 2025 not much different than past years. I continued to learn history, including Iran, Africa, Chinese Americans, Native Americans, Abolition, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, and the rise of the new right and our current polarizaiton. I also read a few books that made many best of lists and especially liked the Brian Goldstone’s Pulitzer Prize winning There is…
Read more >I often go in cycles with my reading. I delved into the Beatles and Bob Dylan during the first part of the year also reading about Chuck Berry, Robyn Hitchcock, and Joni Mitchell. I couldn’t help but read German filmmaker Werner Herzog’s memoir with a title like “Every Man For Himself and God Against All.” I thought Monsters was an…
Read more >This year’s reading list involved learning more about Mexican civil rights, transgender history and theory, Native American history and present, tyranny, the FBI, poverty, the economics of slavery, abolition, women’s rights in Iceland, demographic analysis of voter attitudes during the last election, Palestine and Israel, and biographies of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. On the music end,…
Read more >My 2022 Reading List began studying Liberia, exploring Native American history, a study of broken systems in child welfare and homelessness through the eyes of a child, then a journey through Abolition, Reconstruction, Ida B Wells, WEB DuBois, and William Lloyd Garrison. This year also included a look at racist violence, union challenges, a pandemic, and widening wealth gaps a…
Read more >This year, I studied and read books about policing and criminal justice, early American history, Latino history, Native American history in the South, reckoning with our history, Juneteenth, the filibuster, democracy, the darkness of the Trump years and a hopeful read of history that could restore us. I also wrestled with conservative philosophy. On music, I dug into my two…
Read more >In 2020, my reading journey included a deep dive into the four decade rise of the modern conservative movement, a deep dive into Reconstruction through the coup in Wilmington, a study of the Trail of Tears, the Great Migration, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I also explored Caste, James Baldwin’s ideas, the legal structures of systemic racism, the polarization…
Read more >Dear Mayor Barrett, I have been a supporter of yours since 1992, and today I’ve never been more disappointed in your leadership. My friends, my neighbors, my children, and I are all marching, and you have enabled the police and national guard to operate as an occupying military force that is treating our citizens as enemy combatants rather than concerned citizens…
Read more >For years, I have wanted to tour civil rights sites in Alabama. The Equal Justice Initiative’s new Legacy Museum and Peace and Justice Memorial grew that interest. The history is inspiring and it is heavy – the reminders that the struggle continues are everywhere. I’ve studied this history extensively, but I think anyone visiting would find it instructive, moving, and…
Read more >Harris Wofford’s death on Martin Luther King Day was fitting, even poetic. He was a pioneering champion of civil rights and national service. He inspired thousands of people to believe in and pursue big ideas, to serve causes larger than themselves. He was also a kind, curious, warm, thoughtful, and beloved friend I will sadly miss. I first met Harris…
Read more >America was founded with an inspiring vision of a democratic society compromised by two original sins of white supremacy, slavery and genocide. Our nation has never fully reconciled and amended for either. Instead, these sins tragically evolved over time. While more and more of us understand the evolution of slavery through Jim Crow laws, widespread racial discrimination, and the prison…
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